A Lesson in Quenya
by Tyello
Summary: Disappearing reference books, memorized dictionaries, and a harried Erestor. It's just another day in the Peredhil household. . .


**Disclaimer – **Lord of the Rings does not belong to me. All characters belong to the great Tolkein, whose name doesn't even start with the same letter as mine. Darn.

**A/N** – I realize that there probably aren't dictionaries in Middle-Earth, but that clearly isn't stopping me.

Estel wriggled in his seat, eager to escape Erestor and his lecture on Quenya verbs. The adviser, sensing that his young pupil was distracted, glared wearily at the boy.

"Someday, Estel, you will need to be able to speak Quenya, and you will regret not having listened to your lesson."

"But," whined Estel, "I'm _never_ going to need it! And even if I did, I could look up words. It's not as if I'd never be able to look something up, or ask someone else."

Erestor sighed. "You won't always have a dictionary with you, or someone who can speak Quenya as well as translate for you."

"But to know all those words without a dictionary, I'd need to memorize it! And that would take too long!" Estel exclaimed, confident that he had defeated his teacher.

"Then start now, and maybe you'll be done by the time you need it!" Erestor cried, completely fed up. He stormed out of the room; irritated that Lord Elrond's adoptive son was so intent on not learning to speak Quenya.

Dejected, Estel waited until Erestor had left, then slipped down from his chair and headed towards the library

Elrohir scanned the library before he entered, hoping to avoid being pounced on by Erestor. The advisor seemed to think that it was he who had been stealing the reference books and hiding them among the cook books in the kitchens. Of course, Erestor was unaware that it was actually a competition between Elladan and Glorfindel to see who could steal the most before being caught. Elrohir was content to keep it that way.

Deciding that the coast was clear, he began picking his way through the maze of bookshelves. Looking over his shoulder to make sure no irate advisors were close on his heels, Elrohir nearly tripped over Estel, who lay sprawled in the middle of the aisle, behind a book nearly as large as the boy himself.

"What are you reading?" Elrohir asked, crouching down to the same level as his younger "brother".

"Memorizing the dictionary," the boy stated seriously. "Erestor told me to."

Elrohir blinked. "Erestor told you to memorize the dictionary?"

"Yes." Estel answered. "Why do you keep looking behind you like that?"

Elrohir turned around. There was still no one coming. "No reason. Look, I'm sure Erestor didn't mean for you . . . "

"Elrohir!"

Elrohir spun around. Erestor was standing behind him with his arms crossed.

"Now you are teaching Estel your bad habits?"

"No! We were just talking." Elrohir began to back away. "Look, I'll leave now. Come on, Estel."

Elrohir grabbed his brother by the arm and ran out the door.

Erestor stooped down to pick up the dictionary. At least he had saved this one from being kidnapped. If only he could catch Elrohir in the at of leaving with the books, then he could complain to Lord Elrond . . .

In the hall, Elrohir and Estel ploughed into Glorfindel and Elladan, causing several large tomes to fall out of their arms. Elrohir groaned, helping them gather up the books.

"You just got me in trouble with Erestor again. Haven't you tormented him enough?"

Glorfindel chuckled. "No. There are still three bookcases left for us to dispose of. Then we were going to move on to the histories of Arda. Are you sure you don't want to help us?"

Estel tugged on Elrohir's sleeve before he could answer. "Ro, can we get the dictionary?"

Elladan laughed. "Are the two of you copying? You ought to tell us before you steal our pranks."

Elrohir rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Estel says that Erestor wants him to memorize the dictionary."

Glorfindel crouched down so that he could see into Estel's eyes. "Listen, _tithen pen_. Sometimes Erestor makes very bad jokes. When he does, you need to ignore him. He doesn't really want you to do anything that crazy."

"Yes he does," the boy replied.

"Why don't we go ask him then?"

"'Cause he'll yell at me Glorfy. And then Ada will be mad at me."

Glorfindel grinned. "If he's angry, I'll tell him it's my fault you're not studying. How is that?"

Estel cheered up. "But won't you get in trouble for stealing his books anyway?" he asked mischievously.

The golden haired elf stood up. "We'll just have to make sure he doesn't find out, won't we?"

Before stopping in the library to clear up Estel's situation with Erestor, Glorfindel and Elladan declared that they wanted to drop off their books in the kitchens. Reluctantly, Elrohir agreed to come along, with Estel tagging along behind the older elves.

When they reached their destination, Glorfindel set Estel by the door to act as guard. Elrohir loitered in the kitchens while his brother and friend decided where to hide the books. Hunched over the bookshelves, they looked silly indeed.

As they were placing the last book among the cookbooks, Estel came tearing into the kitchens.

"Erestor is coming! Erestor is coming!" he cried.

No sooner had he said this than the advisor himself entered the room. Elladan and Glorfindel straightened up as Elrohir did his best to turn invisible. He had known that something like this would happen. It always happened when he was around.

Erestor glared around him. "What are you doing in here?"

"What are you?" Glorfindel shot back.

"Looking for you. Lord Elrond wanted to talk to you. It certainly doesn't look as though you've been eating." He looked at the guilty faces surrounding him. "I don't suppose you've been the ones hiding my reference books in that bookcase, have you?"

"Us?" Elladan tried to salvage the situation. "Of course not. We were . . . looking for this." He held up _Dwarvish Cooking: Recipes from Moria._

Erestor took the book. "Trying a hand at Dwarvish cooking, are you?" Then he stooped down to look in the bookcase. "It must be a coincidence that all of these reference books just appeared on this shelf?"

"Yes," replied Glorfindel and Elladan together.

"I see. I wish you would stop your childish pranks. You're teaching Estel bad habits. What were you thinking, Glorfindel? You're old enough to know better!"

Just then, Estel gave out a wail and ran over to Erestor. "You won't tell Ada, will you? I was memorizing the dictionary, just like you said. But then they made me come along. I told them I'd get in trouble!"

Erestor looked down at his pupil in surprise. "Why were you memorizing the dictionary?"

"You told me to. Don't you remember?"

Looking down at the boy's serious face, Erestor couldn't help laughing. "Estel, I didn't really mean for you to memorize the dictionary. If you just study, you won't need to."

Estel looked relieved. "Then you're not mad at me?"

This made Erestor laugh harder, though he tried to hide it. "Of course not."

"Good," the boy sighed.

"How about us?" Glorfindel asked?

The advisor did his best to glare through his smile. "Everyone but you, Glorfindel. I forgive everyone but you."

The golden-haired elf looked slightly worried. "Really?"

Elladan and Elrohir doubled over laughing as Erestor nodded and the Balrog slayer left the kitchens at a run.

**The End.**

Elvish Translation – 

_Tithen pen_ – little one

_Ada_ -- Daddy

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